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Red Sox Next Stop: Yawkey Way
by Andy Liakos
2006-04-09
The Red Sox head back to Boston after a sweeping the Baltimore Orioles in their second series of the season. With a 4-1 win at Camden Yards this afternoon, Wakefield gets a win, and Boston remains in first place.
Not all good news though, as sources close to the team are saying that Coco Crisp might be sidelined for the next month or so rehabbing a broken knuckle on his left index finger. Coco had to leave the game on Saturday to be replaced by Adam Stern after jamming his finger on an awkward slide into third base. Team spokesman, John Blake could not confirm this diagnosis, and he says that as of now there is no reason to assume this injury any worse than the original assumption of a jammed finger. Coco will use Monday's off day to get x-rayed and checked out before Tuesday's home-opener at Fenway Park.
And now for more good news, it appears that Jason Varitek came out victorious in his frightening confrontation with the wall behind home plate in Saturday night's game. He later hit a game-winning double, to put all of the nerves to rest, and assure everyone that the crash looked worse than it really was. Varitek didn't play on Sunday, not because he was injured, but because Wakefield took the mound. This is a common occurrence had you not been aware of V-Tek's inability to catch the knuckleballer, incase any of you have been in a cave the last five years.
The Sox take a well-deserved day off on Monday to rest for Tuesday night's home opener. "It feels like we've been gone for two months -- we have. I'm really excited", said team skipper, Terry Francona. You're not the only one Tito, here in Boston, we're all excited. Josh Beckett is scheduled to take the mound on Tuesday against right-hander Josh Towers and the Toronto Blue Jays.
On a side note, Julian Tavarez will have finished out his 10 game suspension by Tuesday, and we will most likely see him pitch out of the bullpen on Wednesday night. I don't even care if this guy can pitch, we know that he can throw-down, and if you don't believe me, just ask Tampa Bay's Joey Gathright. In honor of his triumphant return to the bullpen, I think I'm going to go out and pick up his Jersey.